Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Frazer, James D 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 9:40 am

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

JAMES D. FRAZER, of Homer Township, was born in Pittsford, Monroe County, N. 
Y., October 5, 1821, a son of James G. and Mary (Hawkins) Frazer, natives 
respectively of Massachusetts and Connecticut. His maternal ancestors came 
from Holland, and his paternal from Scotland. The first of the Frazer family 
in this country settled in Massachusetts during the colonial period and served 
in the Revolutionary war. The father of our subject was born near Boston June 
24, 1789, and during the war of 1812 served in the American army near Lake 
Champlain. When about twenty-five years of age he removed to New York and 
there engaged in farming, abandoning the trade of hatter which he had 
previously learned. In 1850 he came to Illinois and made his home with his 
son, James D., dying here in 1869, when eighty years of age. His wife also 
died in this county when seventy-two years old. They were the parents of nine 
children, but only three are now living, James D.; Martha, the widow of Mahlon 
Gregg, of Rochester, N. Y.; and Jane, who is the wife of William Hindman, of 
Corunna, Mich. From an early age our subject was familiar with the work of a 
farm and on leaving home he hired out to farmers by the month. In 1849 he and 
his brother Harmon V. came to Illinois and bought land in section 30, Homer 
Township, this county, where they embarked in farm pursuits. The brother 
continued to reside here until his death, May 5, 1892. In 1863 our subject 
settled on the farm where he now resides, and on this place he conducts 
general farming and stock-raising. Since coming west he has resided 
continuously in this county with the exception of nineteen months (1852-53) 
spent in the mines of California, principally in the Mount Shasta region, 
where he met with fair success as a miner. For several years he served as 
supervisor of Homer Township, and he has aided in the building of schools and 
churches, and in other improvements for the benefit of the community. 
Politically he is independent. He was the first treasurer of Lockport Lodge 
No. 538, A. F. & A. M., of which he was the first treasurer. He assisted in 
organizing the Homer Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of which he was president 
for a number of years. In 1857 Mr. Frazer married Miss Mary F. Lane, who was 
born in Pittsburg, Monroe County, N. Y., September 4, 1830, and was brought to 
Illinois by her parents in 1833. Through her mother, she traces her lineage to 
James Olmstead, who landed in New England in 1632, and established his home in 
the wilds of Connecticut. The Olmstead family originated in Germany, but in 
the early part of the sixteenth century settled in Cambridge, England, and 
from there came to America. Mrs. Frazer is a daughter of John Lane, Sr., who 
was born in Maine on the Kennebec River and in 1833 took up a claim in Yankee 
settlement (now Homer Township) this county, where he became known as 
the "village blacksmith." As the inventor of the first steel plow he gained 
prominence among agriculturists. By his marriage to Lucy Olmstead, a native of 
Connecticut, he had four children, but only two survive, Mrs. Martha Warner, 
of Albion, Mich., and Mrs. Frazer. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Frazer consists 
of three children, namely: John D., a farmer in Homer Township; Mattie J., who 
married J. H. Corvell and resides in York, Neb.; and Mary F., wife of W. M. 
Nye, of Monroe County, N. Y. 

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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